Senator Kurt Schaefer heads the budget committee in the Senate. He says it’s not easy to balance everyone’s needs, but he does think the State is spending too much on Medicare and other social programs, and not enough on education. He says the general assembly put a lot of money into the budget for education, but Governor Nixon took it out.
Schaefer says not funding higher education to a greater degree makes it harder for the middle class to afford college.
He says for the past three years in a row, funding for education has steadily decreased, and that trend is unsustainable. He says he understands that Missouri is in a tough place with the budget, but he says cutting education is not going to help Missouri in the long run.